Play Arts Kai Deathstroke: Slade Wilson is better than Wade Wilson

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Slade Wilson is one of the biggest badasses in comic books. Sure, half of that is because he was voiced by Ron Perlman, but the other half is because he’s an unstoppable, unkillable master assassin and one of the four greatest martial artists in the DC universe. And he has a sweet eyepatch. And his code name was “Deathstroke” over a decade before “violent word + noun” became the preferred comic book name formula.

Square Enix makes action figures, and its Play Arts Kai line towers above Figmas and S. H. Figuarts in size and detail. They’re huge, expensive (around $100 each), and run the gamut from Final Fantasy to Metal Gear Solid to DC Comics. Square Enix sent us the Play Arts Kai version of Deathstroke.

He’s twice as big as Figma Link and a lot taller than the Big Chap as well. He’s also heavier, bulkier, and angrier. He has loads of articulation (including a ball joint for his bandana-mask thing so you can pose him in dramatic wind), but he’s just too big for his stand to fully support him in the air like Link or S.H. Figuarts Mario. The stand is sturdier, but less articulated and more finicky than the lamp-arm stands of the other action figures.

He comes loaded for bear, with an incredibly detailed rifle, pistol, katana (that looks just like Raiden’s HF Blade), and a staff, along with different hands for holding his different weapons. There’s one odd hiccup, though: the hands are designed so he holds the rifle with the grip in his right hand, which would mean aiming down the barrel with his right eye. Which is the side he wears his eyepatch on. There isn’t even an eye molded on that side of the face, it’s just flat black mask. It looks cool, but it’s Solid Snake levels of silly.

Figma and S.H. Figuarts figures still stand out as my personal favorites because of their stands and the way you can pose them, but Play Arts Kai figures by Square Enix are undeniably impressive. They’re big, super-detailed, and built very well. They’re just not quite as literally flexible in how you can pose them. You can pick up Play Arts Kai figures like Deathstroke in many comic book stores.